One more question regarding collisions - page 2.

DannyHamilton

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Quote from: RealMalatesta on January 25, 2024, 07:07:36 PM

Could it be possible that a collision already happened in the past, we just don't know it?

That depends on what you mean when you use the word "possible". There are many things in the universe that have a mathematical non-zero probability, but which have such a small probability of ever happening that no reasonable person would ever use the word "possible" to describe them.

Quote from: RealMalatesta on January 25, 2024, 07:07:36 PM

Or, in other words: Is there any way to find out if a collision already happened in the past?

If it happened (it hasn't), then the only way we'd be able to know for certain would be if BOTH individuals each spent separate outputs that had the same pubKey hash, but provided two different public keys for their transaction. This would be a pretty straight-forward search for someone to write software to perform on the blockchain, but I'm not going to waste my time writing it.

If only one of the individuals spent the outputs, then there'd only be one public key, and no way for us to know.

Yamane_Keto

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@Peter Green has a good answer to this question which you can find here https://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/33821/how-to-deal-with-collisions-in-bitcoin-addresses
The numbers may change slightly, but the probability is very small (1/2^37) and can be considered negligible, or you have a better chance of mining Bitcoin legally instead of stealing it through hash collisions.

RealMalatesta

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The following is from the Bitcoin wiki:

Quote

Since Bitcoin addresses are basically random numbers, it is possible, although extremely unlikely, for two people to independently generate the same address. This is called a collision. If this happens, then both the original owner of the address and the colliding owner could spend money sent to that address. It would not be possible for the colliding person to spend the original owner's entire wallet (or vice versa).

So the question is: Could it be possible that a collision already happened in the past, we just don't know it? And even the "victims" of a collision do not know?
Or, in other words: Is there any way to find out if a collision already happened in the past?

Topic: One more question regarding collisions - page 2. (Read 347 times)